Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a relay device, an image forming apparatus, a relay method, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a relay program. More particularly, the present invention relates to a relay device which relays communications between a device located outside a firewall and a device located inside the firewall, an image forming apparatus which includes the relay device, a relay method which is executed by the relay device, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a relay program which is executed by the relay device.
Description of the Related Art
A multi-function peripheral (hereinafter, referred to as “MFP”) which is connected to a local area network (LAN) may be controlled by using a service provided from a cloud server which is connected to the Internet. For example, an MFP may be caused to print data stored in a cloud server. However, it is often the case that an MFP is connected to a LAN and the LAN is connected to the Internet via a firewall. Therefore, an access from the cloud server to the MFP may be blocked by the firewall.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-063944 discloses a print server which includes: a list request receiving unit which receives a printer list request from a client terminal; an acquisition unit which sends a status acquisition request to a printer and acquires the status indicating whether the printer is available for printing; and a sending unit which sends, to the client terminal that has sent the printer list request, data of a printer list described in a format for display on a Web browser of the client terminal, using the status of the printer that has been acquired by the acquisition unit. When the status of the printer cannot be acquired in the acquisition unit, the sending unit sends the data of the printer list by adding thereto a command which allows the Web browser of the client terminal to inquire the status of the printer whose status has not been acquired.
In the conventional printing system, however, the client terminal needs to be connected to a LAN to which the printer is connected. Further, the client terminal is caused to perform processing that should be performed by the print server. That is, the print server has to perform an additional process of generating a Web page for causing the client terminal to execute the processing, and the client terminal has to perform the processing that should be originally performed by the print server. This increases the load on both of the print server and the client terminal.